‘The mountain is waking up’
Skyfire is a 2020 Chinese disaster thriller film about what happens to a holiday resort built on a seemingly dormant volcano!
Directed by Simon West (The Expendables 2; When a Stranger Calls; Con Air; Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) from a screenplay written by Wei Bu and Sidney King, the movie stars Xueqi Wang, Hannah Quinlivan, Shawn Dou and Jason Isaacs (Star Trek: Discovery).
Plot:
Escape to Tianhuo Island, a beautiful remote paradise… where renowned businessman Jack Harris (Jason Isaacs), is about to open a brand new holiday resort. With its breathtaking views overlooking the stunning mountains and the chance to tour the dormant volcano, visitors begin to flock from far and wide to experience the awe-inspiring sights.
But beneath the Island’s beauty lies the ultimate danger… when the mountain decides to wake up, it creates terror in its wake. Will anyone survive the volcanic fallout?
Reviews:
“Although there’s nothing wrong with making a mindless action movie, I have to wonder why the makers of Skyfire didn’t try a little harder in the areas that don’t involve destruction. After all, if you’re going to put that much imagination into the disaster stuff, why not put some into everything else, so that we have a reason to really care about it?” The Aisle Seat
“In terms of spectacle, the film is a mixed bag. Mediocre green-screen work and some jarring instances of shoddy CGI often make the film look cheap, though there are a few genuinely nail-biting scenes: a jeep’s mad dash through raining lava right to the edge of a cliff is a showstopper and the only time the film delivers on its promise.” Asian Film Strike
“Skyfire is the kind of film to watch on the big screen. That’s the arena where impressive visuals projected on a vast screen and pounding surround sound presented in an enclosed space can stupefy an audience into cheering on the proceedings […] On the small screen though, the faults of films like Skyfire are easy to spot and much more difficult to forgive.” Far East Films
” …Simon West’s workmanlike direction does deliver some goods here (both monorail and jeep chase scenes quickly come to mind). That of course, if you can tolerate most of the movie’s uneven special effects that tend to look like a shoddy B-grade piece of work.” Screen HK
“Every time you notice how familiar the situation is, there’s something to make you forget it again. Some of these scenes are let down by, of all things, poor green screen work. It’s really surprising to see it become an issue rather than the CGI […] For all its faults though, Skyfire is an enjoyably brain dead film. It’s big, dumb, noisy and a perfect way to kill some time.” Voices from the Balcony
Release:
Following a successful release in China on 12th December 2019, Skyfire is gradually being released around the world in late 2020.
Cast and characters:
Xueqi Wang … Wentao Li
Hannah Quinlivan … Meng Li
Shawn Dou … Zhengnan
Jason Isaacs … Jack Harris
An Bai … Jiahui Dong
Lingchen Ji … Bo Teng
Liang Shi … Professor Jiang
Lawrence de Stefano … Wealthy Tourist
Tongjiang Hou … Grandpa
Owen Kwong … (voice)
Kent S. Leung … Zhengnan (voice)
Yiqing Li … Shanshan
Xinmo Ma … Qianwei (as Leslie Ma)
Alice Rietveld … Sue Miller
Bee Rogers … Meng (Young)
Filming locations:
Malaysia
Technical details:
97 minutes
Original title:
天火
Trailer:
YouTube reviews:
